April202012

Where there had been ruins of a an area of densely populated, working
class housing, the East Germans build what they styled "The first
socialist street". It replaced the "Große Frankfurter
Straße" and from 1949 to 1961 was known as "Stalin
Allee".

Designed in the so-called wedding-cake style, the socialist classicism
of the Soviet Union, the avenue, which is 292 feet wide and nearly 1¼
miles long, is lined with monumental eight-storey buildings containing
spacious and luxurious apartments for workers, as well as shops,
restaurants, cafés, a tourist hotel, the "Berolina", and the
"International" cinema.

Where there had been ruins of a an area of densely populated, working
class housing, the East Germans build what they styled "The first
socialist street". It replaced the "Große Frankfurter
Straße" and from 1949 to 1961 was known as "Stalin
Allee".

Designed in the so-called wedding-cake style, the socialist classicism
of the Soviet Union, the avenue, which is 292 feet wide and nearly 1¼
miles long, is lined with monumental eight-storey buildings containing
spacious and luxurious apartments for workers, as well as shops,
restaurants, cafés, a tourist hotel and an enormous cinema (the
International), At each end are dual towers at Frankfurter Tor (in the
middle distance) and Strausberger Platz.

Under the umbrella of Subversive Forum a number of events will take place in May 2012 in the Croatian capital, including an international conference dedicated to the main theme The Future of Europe, numerous debates The Crisis of Europe (May 14 – 15), The Struggle for the Commons (May 16) and Towards the Balkan Social Forum (May 17 – 18), the Subversive book fair and, during the introductory week (May 5 – 12), the 5th Subversive Film Festival.

It is no news that the European Union is facing its biggest crisis since it was created. It is at the same time an economic, financial, social and ideological crisis of this project. Across the continent, instead of solidarity we are witnessing a resurgence of national selfishness, the rise of extreme right, intolerance, and racism. The Mediterranean countries who have been hit the hardest by the crisis show us also a possible response to it : the appearance of strong social movements demanding social justice, a different economic model, and direct democracy. Almost everywhere we see the youth on the streets, in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Romania, but also in the future EU member Croatia.

Through a critical examination of Europe’s current crisis, the Subversive Forum will try to outline realistic possibilities for its transformation and the creation of another political, social and economic project across the Old Continent. The keynote speakers include Stéphane Hessel, Michael Hardt, Tariq Ali, Gayatri Spivak, Slavoj Žižek, Saskia Sassen, Christian Marazzi, Samir Amin, Bernard Cassen, Ignatio Ramonet, Eric Touissant, Costas Douzinas, Renata Salecl, and more than 100 participants from 20 different European, African and Asian countries. For one week in May, Zagreb, the town placed almost exactly on the EU’s shifting border, will become both a center of the world’s critical thought and a laboratory of possible political, social and economic alternatives.

Shadow banks conduct credit intermediation without direct, explicit access to public sources of liquidity and credit guarantees. Shadow banks contributed to the credit boom in the early 2000s and collapsed during the financial crisis of 2007-09. We review the rapidly growing literature on shadow banking and provide a conceptual framework for its regulation. Since the financial crisis, regulatory reform efforts have aimed at strengthening the stability of the shadow banking system. We review the implications of these reform efforts for shadow funding sources including asset-backed commercial paper, triparty repurchase agreements, money market mutual funds, and securitization. Despite significant efforts by lawmakers, regulators, and accountants, we find that progress in achieving a more stable shadow banking system has been uneven.